The Florida episode. Also the second part of the 1991 Christmas Special. First broadcast 25 December 1991.
Del and Rodney arrive in Miami — where a local mafia boss, Vincenzo "Vinny the Chain" Occhetti, is on trial for murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. He looks exactly like Del, which is noticed when Del and Rodney are seen by Vinny's son Rico in a bar. Rico hatches a plan to have Del killed with the intention of tricking everyone into thinking that Vinny himself has been murdered (thus sparing him the trial and almost-certain imprisonment), and with this in mind befriends the Trotters.
After arranging for their camper van to be stolen, Rico invites Del and Rodney to stay at the family mansion. Over the following days, several attempts to kill Del, including shooting him in a beach-side restaurant and sending him off on a jet ski with a broken throttle, fail.
Meanwhile, Rodney contacts Cassandra and learns that Del knew she would be unable to go on holiday that particular week, and had therefore arranged it in order to guarantee himself a free holiday. An enraged Rodney encounters Vinny — believing him to be Del — and pins him up against the wall, promising revenge. However, just after the confused Vinny leaves, Rodney runs into Del, who claims he set up the holiday in order to lay low so as to avoid any repercussions from the Church over the communion wine deal. Rodney, though, is unable to understand how Del managed to get changed so quickly, and begins to think there is someone in the mansion who looks like him.
Whilst browsing around the family mansion, Del discovers the truth after inadvertently meeting two Colombian drug barons who mistake him for Vinny. After the meeting, he finds Rodney and tells him what happened. Realising that he has just attacked and threatened a mafia boss, Rodney agrees to flee. The two brothers escape from the mansion and soon end up in the Everglades, with Rico in hot pursuit. Del and Rodney only manage to evade capture thanks to the fortuitous arrival of the holidaying Boycie and Marlene.
After anonymously leaving evidence against the Occhettis at a park ranger station, the Trotters go straight to the airport and wait there until the next flight home. While they do so, it's revealed on the TV news that Vinny has been found guilty of all charges, while Rico has been arrested for illegally hunting in the Everglades. Upon returning to the flat, Del and Rodney find Raquel and Albert sitting amid many stacked boxes of white wine.
Tropes:
- Amoral Attorney: Being the lawyer to a notorious mob boss, Salvatore is this, although even he thinks his client's guilty.
- As Himself: Barry Gibb, who's not keen on the attention while he's in Miami. Especially if it involves Del serenading him with "How Deep Is Your Love" from a boat.
- Borrowed Catchphrase:Rico [on the telephone to Vasquez]: Gracias. I look forward to meeting you. Right, lovely jubbly.
- The Cavalry: When on the run, Rodney and Del Boy get backed into the Everglades. Minutes before they get caught, Boycie and Marlene show up on a hovercraft exploration with a tour guide, and carry them off to safety.
- Contrived Coincidence: The fact that Del happens to go into the same bar as Rico, who notices the resemblance between him and his father, Vinny — thus setting up the plot of the episode. Later on, the appearance of Boycie and Marlene when Del and Rodney are running for their lives counts as this.
- Criminal Doppelgänger: Vincenzo "Vinny the Chain" Occhetti, a mafia boss who looks just like Del, is facing life imprisonment. His son hatches a plot to murder Del in public, hoping that everyone will believe that it is his father who has been killed, thus sparing him the prison sentence.
- Death Faked for You: Rico tries to invoke this by befriending Del, who he plans to kill so that everyone will think that someone's killed Vinny, who looks exactly like Del. All attempts to kill Del fail.
- Easily Forgiven: Zigzagged. Rodney is initially intent to making Del Boy pay when he discovers that the latter purposely booked the Miami trip on the week Cassandra was attending her seminars/interviews. However, that all changes when Rodney realises that he threatened Don Ochetti, the head of the Mafia, that he mistook for Del Boy. Now horrified that his own life is in danger, Rodney immediately shifts his priorities and escapes the mansion with Del. It is possible that Rodney feels that Del Boy’s life being in danger was enough punishment and forgets about getting even with Del. Although, when Del admits to Rodney that he wishes he had never come on the holiday, Rodney angrily reminds the former that he invited himself.
- Expy: Vinny is heavily modelled on Vito Corleone. Lampshaded...Del: I'm telling you, Rodney, this is Marlon Brando time!
- False Reassurance: Raquel is worried about the fact that Del's not been in touch from Florida. The pub regulars try to reassure her, albeit unsuccessfully:Mickey: There's nothing to worry about! A few years back my brother went to Portugal on a golfing holiday. No-one heard from him for three months! His wife was phoning Interpol, my Mum was going mad - but he turned up safe and sound.
Raquel: Where had he been?
Mickey: He'd shacked up with some German tart.
Alan: Shuddup, there's a good boy!
Mickey: Alright, so he was bang out of order, but at least he weren't injured.
Denzil: Which is more than people will say about you if you don't shut it! [To Raquel] Listen, I've known Del a lot longer than you, and sometimes he can be a bit forgetful, especially when he's enjoying himself, I mean, he's most probably out there having the time of his life and... I'm not saying the right things, am I?
Raquel: No, you're not!
Albert: Young Mickey was more comforting than you! - Genre Shift: This episode plays out more like a gangster film than a sitcom; the fact that it has incidental music and no laughter track (the latter due to its being shot on film) helps give this impression. It's actually one of just three Only Fools and Horses episodes to be broadcast without a laughter track, the other two being "To Hull and Back" and "A Royal Flush", although as with the latter, a laughter track was later added for some home media releases.
- Identical Stranger: A notorious American mafia boss, and Del.
- Knight of Cerebus: Don Occhetti and sons, being relatively seriously depicted mobsters, make several attempts on Del's life. While in a comedic backdrop, the implications are genuinely sinister.
- Life Saving Misfortune: A comedic example. While eating lunch at a fancy restaurant, Del drops some food. As he bends down to pick it up, a sniper's bullet hits the back of his chair.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Rodney has this reaction on learning that the man he's just attacked, insulted and threatened is not his brother...Rodney: I just called a mafia boss a git!
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: While playing Vinny, David Jason occasionally slips into his "Del Boy" voice.
- Shout-Out: The main episode title is derived from Miami Vice.
- Title, Please!: The episode's sub-title, "Oh to Be in England", does not appear on-screen but has been confirmed by
Word of God. This is also the only episode in which the show's name does not appear in the opening credits — only the name of the episode, "Miami Twice", does so. - Vacation Episode: Aside from a couple of scenes, the whole thing is set in Florida. It was filmed there too — in contrast to "It Never Rains", in which Bournemouth stood in for Benidorm.
- Variations on a Theme Song: The usual opening and closing themes are absent from this episode. In fact, this episode is one of just three not to use the regular closing theme tune (the other two being "The Jolly Boys' Outing" and "Rodney Come Home"), and the only one not to use the regular opening theme note .
